Africa will be far, in terms of development, if countries link through the market and add value to their products, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni believes.

“I think the African people on the globe should see how to resolve the issue of linking the market, what I produce you buy and what you produce I buy so that we empower one another through the market linkage,” President Museveni said.

The President recently made the remarks while meeting a delegation of Born-Again Christian leaders in Uganda and outside countries such as the United States at State House Entebbe.

President Museveni explained to his guests that the reason why African countries are still lagging behind is due to loss of value for their products.

“If for instance you take coffee business, its market value in the world is worth $460bn but all the coffee growing countries in the world share only $25bn, the rest; more than 400bn US dollars is taken by other people,” the President said.

“When it comes to Africa, we share only $2.5bn and Uganda takes almost $900m of that. But what is the problem? The problem is that Africa ends at growing the coffee and dehusking it. When somebody takes it , he roasts, grinds and packs it; that is how he gets all the other money,” he added.

“When you sell dehusked coffee of good quality, you get about $2.5 per kilogram and when somebody roasts it and does the rest, he gets $40. That means loss of money per kilogram and jobs; this is a big hemorrhage; here we are trying to stop.”

The President also courted Ugandan allies like the Christians and African- Americans to support the country’s textile sector in order to push its industrialization agenda.

Apostle Pauline Forkwa from the United States assured the President that they are ready to work with Uganda to transform it socially and economically.